1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air chiller unit (air cooling device) equipped in a body of an aircraft for supplying cooled air to foods or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Passenger aircrafts that travel long distances, such as international flights, are equipped with service carts storing meals and the like to be served to passengers, and galleys (kitchen areas) housing the service carts for preparing beverages and carrying out easy food preparation.
The meals are cooked in advance in service facilities on the ground, placed on trays to be stored in service carts, and brought on board.
Of the meals placed on the trays, warm dishes are heated using a heater etc., and cold dishes such as salads are maintained at low temperature by cooled air fed into the service carts.
The patent document of U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,979 discloses an example of a device for cooling service carts.
The air chiller unit is disposed in a space provided on the ceiling or under the floor of the galley in the aircraft. The air chiller unit is equipped with a refrigeration cycle unit, which cools air by an evaporator disposed within a cooling air chamber and supplies the cooled air via a duct to the galley or the like.
Since the air chiller unit is mounted on an aircraft, the unit is required to be light weight and small, and since it is located near the passenger seats, the noise generated by the unit must be reduced.
For safety, it is necessary that the air chiller unit maintain durability when it is subjected to a load as large as 9 G. The refrigeration cycle unit incorporated in the air chiller unit has a compressor for a refrigerant, which is a rotary machine, and it is necessary that the compressor is provided with a vibration-isolation supporting mechanism.
In the prior art, the support arrangement sacrificed the vibration isolation performance so as to provide sufficient durability to the 9-G load.